Ibook G4 won't book

Question

I replaced the hard drive and added 1GB memory about 2 years ago. I have been running leopard since it came out. Today I finished a presentation, shut the lid, came home, opened it, and the last image was there on the screen but the machine was totally unresponsive. I have tried:
CMD-OPT-P-R -- this seems to work every time
C with the DVD in -- fails at exactly the same place every time, I mean, the grey spinny thing stop at about 7 o'clock, every time
SHIFT -- never even gets to the gray apple
CMD-S -- usually stops partway through rendering the blank gray screen. Once, once, I got a command line. Should have stayed there.
CMD-V -- sometimes shows me output sometimes, other times it's the same as Cmd-S, a couple of times it booted all the way to the login screen and the mouse froze. I have even once managed to put in my password, but it froze again.
CMD-OPT-SHIFT-DELETE fails
T -- I get the little firewire symbol, but the only firewire drive I have is my time machine drive. Is that supposed to be bootable?
CMD-OPT -- spinny thing stops
CMD -- spinny thing stops
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Niels:
Unfortunately, Apple Hardware Test disks are computer specific, meaning that they are optimized for the computer to which they are issued. For your computer it is AHT (iBook) 2.2.1, 2.5. You can probably get one either on eBay or by calling Apple Customer Relations with your computer Serial Number for ID. There is a service fee of arount $60, if they have it.
For now, you can likely forgo it. It may be easier to take it in to the Apple store and have them look at it.
Here are some of the likely suspects, in my mind:
• Logic board issue. There are several issues, but you can test one of them by pressing down on the palmrest left of the trackpad when you startup. If you are able to start up while pressing there, the shim fix might work for you. More about other logic board problems later.
• When the HDD and additional RAM were installed it is possible that some screws were missed, or some were screwed in too tightly, particularly the ones around the RAM cover.
• The newly installed RAM module may be an issue. Remove the RAM you installed and see if it makes a difference.
• Other logic board issues may be a faulty IDE Controller, or a damaged ATA ribbon cable. To test these you would need to remove the HDD from the computer (not an inviting prospect, I know ) and test it in an external firewire enclosure to see if the drive is doing what it is supposed to do. To test the ribbon cable you will need to try a different one and see if it works.
Lots of work and testing here. If the HDD works outside the computer and you can boot the computer with it connected to the firewire port, that may provide you with a temporary solution.
cornelius